Back on the rails

I’m sure it must be the same for any writer, or artist, come to that, that when a work is finished, a work which has taken over your life and your mind and often your day-to-day activities, when it is done, finished, launched, gone… there is a muddly sort of time. Because the habit of writing/painting/creating music is so ingrained and so much part of every day, and is in your mind pretty much all the time,, even at night, even in dreams, to let go is difficult. Sometimes letting go in the sense of actually finishing and not going over it one more time, changing it here, tweaking it there, is very difficult, and can even be sort of painful.

Yesterday an amazing man called Ben Smith completed a physical challenge he had set himself, to run four hundred and one marathons in four hundred and one days – yes, 401 marathons in 401 days!! What an achievement! He did it to raise money and awareness of two charities, both supporting young people who have been bullied, and to raise awareness of the issues and needs of such children. Ben had been badly bullied himself while at school for being gay, and I hope those same bullies are now ashamed of themselves. Having finished, reporters asked Ben the inevitable question – ‘what next?’ Ben said he needed to ‘run down’ and for the next month he will be running daily half marathons, and then he will run shorter distances, and then no doubt he will set himself a new challenge!

I’m not suggesting my writing is anywhere near as arduous as what Ben has achieved, he is just amazing! A hero! … but there is still the same process of winding down, and for the last few weeks, since Lucky Portbraddon was published, I’ve been faffing about… writing here, of course, and doing other bits and pieces of writing too.

My next writing project is to finish the fifth in the series of Radwinter books; it is about three-quarters of the way through, but what I’ve written so far is in a bit of a muddle as there are several different story lines. I’ve been reading it through and going over it and I think I’ve straightened out some of the tangles. As usual there are too many words which will go, but I feel ready to get on with it properly, get on with the writing and get it finished. I feel as if I’m back on track!

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5 Comments

My sister in laws cousin traveled the world over looking for a woman with a perfect set of teeth. Finally found her in a remote valley in Thailand. Married her and has one child. He’s 72 and her 24. True story.

They live in Canada close to me. I always thought he was a strange duck but he could have been a concert pianist. I hope he didn’t catch her taking her teeth out to clean them or he’d be on the road again.